If I Could Just Find You Tonight
by Deniecey
Summary: Bound, gagged, and about to become food for the people of Terminus, Daryl remembers the last night he spent with Beth. Written for the prompt memory from Tumblr. Bethyl


The bright light above him shone on his face and into his eyes, he could feel the heat radiating from it. Daryl's face was bruised, the rope tied around his wrists rubbed against them uncomfortably, and the gag in his mouth was tight—making it hard to swallow.

The first chance Daryl had gotten to escape that boxcar, he'd taken it. The moment it had been opened from the outside, letting in sunlight, and silhouetting the frame of the person leaving food in shadow, he'd rushed forward and dragged the person into the boxcar, holding them around their neck in a vice grip. It didn't take him long to realize the person he held, clutched in a chocking grip, was a women. She was panting and breathing loudly—she was scared. ''What game are you, and your people playin at?'' He'd hissed into her ear.

''You-you don't understand.'' She'd gasped. ''We-we need you, all of you if we're goin to survive. Please let me go, I can't breath.''

He'd loosened his grip around her neck, just a little, but it was enough to let her scream for help. Daryl placed his hand over her mouth, but it was to late, she'd already screamed loudly, alerting the rest of their people. The boxcar was stormed with them, and they had weapons. Rick, Abraham, Glenn, and the rest of the group joined Daryl in fighting against them. They fought punching and kicking against the people of Terminus, but they were outnumbered, not to mention their lack of weapons.

Daryl felt himself being pushed face forward against one of the walls of the boxcar. ''Alright, who's the troublemaker?'' A man's voice said from behind Daryl.

''It's the one you got pushed up against the wall, Colton.'' A women said, Daryl recognized her voice, it was same women he'd held in a vice grip just minutes ago.

''Looks like we're goin' to have to split you all up.'' Daryl was roughly pushed and lead outside the boxcar and into an empty warehouse. And that was where he found himself now, tied and gagged with that damn light shining in his face. And that wasn't even the worst part, he'd heard a whispered conversation, and now knew what was going to happen to him and the rest of the group. With the the new knowledge that he was about to become lunch for the inhabitants of Terminus, his mind wandered to when he'd been forced into the boxcar a few days ago.

After he'd been forced to enter the boxcar along with Rick, Carl, and Michonne, he'd seen familiar faces of People that, until now, he had thought might be dead. He'd been happy, more happy than he'd been since his last night with Beth. Of course they were trapped, with no weapons, and no clue what would happen to them, but _they were together_. Except... except for Tyreese, Carol, Judith, and Beth.

When he'd realized most of the group was there, he'd wanted _Beth _to walk out of that group, ponytail bouncing as she walked over to him, big blue eyes twinkling with affection, and her beautiful shy smile that no one else could rival. It had been a stupid hopeful idea that she might have been there, but he had never wanted an idea to be true so much before.

For most people, when they thought they were about to die, their life would flash before their eyes. Daryl thought that was pretty stupid, he'd had a lot of near death experiences, and never once had his life flashed before his eyes, but then his life had been pretty crappy so far except... except for that one night, that stood out clearly in Daryl's mind.

_ Laying in the coffin, one arm resting under his head, and watching as Beth sang and played the piano, Daryl felt comfortable and relaxed. She was singing in a low voice, and he wanted to ask her to sing louder, so he could hear the words clearly, but he suddenly felt to shy to tell her. Daryl strained his ears, and he could just hear snatches of what she was singing. ''Like an old guitar..'' She sang softly,''worn out and left behind, I have stories still to tell, they're of the healing kind..'' Her voice was soft and sweet, and Daryl couldn't help thinking that her voice was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard. _

_Beth finished off the end of the song, and turned around to glance at Daryl, the light behind her both illuminated and framed her face, giving it a glowing tint. ''I think I'll head off to bed, it's gettin' late.'' She said. A stray piece of hair fell onto her face, right over one of her eyes, and Daryl watched as Beth pushed it off her face and behind her ear. She stood up slowly, looking through the open doorway to the stairs. ''Did you find any rooms upstairs?'' She asked. _

_Earlier when they'd searched through the place, Daryl had headed upstairs alone after the two of them had looked through the ground level. He'd been reluctant to let Beth follow him up the stairs—there could've been walkers, and he didn't want to place her in any danger—they'd had enough of that already, so she'd stayed downstairs searching through the cabinets they'd missed, while he went to search upstairs.  
_

_''Found plenty of rooms, only one of them had a bed. Hope ya don't mind sharin' a bed with a corpse though.''  
_

_Beth wrinkled her noise and grimaced at the thought. ''It's better than sleepin' on the ground, we can move it off, and anyway I've slept on worse before.''_

_Daryl half moved to get out of the coffin, but Beth's voice stopped him, ''Wait, it's really not fair for either one of us to have to sleep in that bed, but I've got another idea.'' A bit of a coy smile was spreading across her face. She stretched her neck, looking over at the coffin. ''How comfortable would you say that coffin is?''_

_Daryl was confused. Why would she be asking about the coffin? All of a sudden he realized what she meant, he could feel heat rising up his face at the thought of the two of them sharing that tight confined space. ''Ya don't mean we should share it?''  
_

_''Why not? You said it was the most comfortable bed you'd been in for a while.'' _

_Daryl spluttered, ''It-it won't be very comfortable.'' Did she really not realize why that would be awkward and uncomfortable?_

_Beth shrugged. ''We can make it work.'' She walked over, toward him and the coffin and swung herself up into it. She laid down next to him, settling in, but in all truth most of her was laying on Daryl.  
_

_Daryl took a deep breath, trying to steady his beating heart. He knew he was probably blushing, but he felt so nervous when he thought about how Beth's body was pressed against his. Beth's head was laying on Daryl's chest, and he wondered how she hadn't even blinked an eye at the two of them sleeping together in that coffin, but then, it had been her idea. Beth's eyes were closed and her breathing was quiet and steady, in appearance it looked like she was fast asleep, but that proved to be wrong, She lifted and turned her head to look at Daryl, tickling his chin with her hair. ''Daryl?'' Beth asked quietly, breaking the silence, ''Do ya think we'll ever find them again?''  
_

_He didn't even need to ask Beth who she was talking about, he knew. He also knew that the chances of the two of them ever reuniting with the group, were probably low, but Daryl didn't voice what he really thought. ''Maybe, someday.''_

_Beth laid her head back down on Daryl's chest, and it wasn't long before she fell asleep. Daryl still couldn't fall asleep himself, his heart wasn't hammering anymore, but he almost didn't want to take his eyes off Beth. She looked so beautiful asleep. Her pale porcelain skin almost seemed to glow in the dim light. That same piece of hair that had fallen onto her face earlier, had found it's way back onto her face, covering half of it. Daryl gently pushed it off her face, careful not to wake Beth up. Glancing at Beth and feeling happier and more relaxed than Daryl could ever remember feeling, an idea began to dawn on him. They could stay here. No more running, no more worrying about walkers so much anymore, not having to scavenge desperately for something to eat. They could be happy here, and safe. With that thought in mind, Daryl let himself close his eyes and relax enough to fall asleep.  
_

Daryl was startled out of the memory by the sound of a metal door slamming. Someone had entered the warehouse where he was being held. He started working on loosening his bounds, because there was no way he was going to be made into a happy meal for these people. He was going to find some way to get the hell out here, along with the rest of the group, and he was going to find her. He would go to the ends of the earth to find Beth Greene, and when he did, somehow he would tell her how how he felt about her.


End file.
